Exercise Life….It’s Worth The Effort

A person I respect asked me, when reviewing my last post, why are you writing a blog? My answer to him was, I believe my experiences may be helpful to others looking to find ways to advance their careers.

As I thought more about that answer I realized that was only part of the story. The next part is that my blog is the next step in exercising my life back into shape.

Let me explain. A little over two years ago when I reflected on my life I gave it an eight of ten. Living divorced is certainly worth at least a minus 2. My career was going in the right direction, my family was wonderful, my health was very good and financially I could do the things I wanted to do. Honestly, things were going as well as ever.

As happens, things were about to take a change dramatically. In a two-week period I lost my Dad who was my hero and my mentor, I was demoted in my job for reasons I still do not understand and my immediate family started to come apart. For the next 6 months I just survived. I took solace in my job and struggled with the enormity of what had taken place. Then another unexpected turn, a trip to the hospital started to set me on a new course. A direction that started with physical exercise including two or more hours a day at the gym, several days a week.

Although the gym workouts made a significant difference in my physical health, I realized with the help of my sister that I had other areas that also needed work. My emotional health and my mental health needed exercise as much as my body. Looking back that became the real turning point. I realized that what happened two years ago was a serious injury. Like my days as an athlete this injury was going to take serious rehab and I would have to work on all parts of my health: body, mind and heart.

The steps that followed came more easily. I started to read more and learned to focus on taking control of my story; some would call it self-branding. I started to read many excellent blogs on leadership and especially on the subject of leading from within. I started to focus on ways I can help others, starting with my children and close friends and family. And the next logical step for me was to begin to write.

I know this is a very personal story, yet I am aware of others going through similar things every day. The important thing I realized is that my life is like a tripod. To have proper balance we all need strength in three legs: physical strength, mental strength and emotional strength that comes from the heart. Each area requires its own type of exercise. And for each person the right formula for strengthening each area is different.

I am a big NASCAR fan. One of the things I learned from this sport is that when you make adjustments you do them one at a time. Pick the weakest area and work on making it stronger. For me, my body came first. When that began to feel better, I focused on the next area. And with new-found strength we can all find ways to support others and improve their lives

There is a lot of talk about work life balance. That definition will be different for each of us. Focus on balancing life. Exercise in the areas that are most important to you, it will be worth it.